Your paycheck is about to take a dive. The culprit: Payroll tax relief is set expire at the end of the year and Congress is unlikely to extend it, The New York Times reported on Monday.

On average, middle-income families have enjoyed around $1,000 in additional income from the payroll tax cut this year. The temporary tax cut lowered workers' tax rates from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent on wages up to $110,000. The result was to give Americans a few extra bucks of spending money each month, a move that the government had hoped would stimulate the economy.

And just as Americans will have higher taxes and fewer spending dollars overall next year, other consumer costs, especially food prices, are predicted to increase in 2013. In other words: American families are facing yet another year of belt-tightening -- no matter who is elected into the White House come November.

Some economists have argued for an extension of the payroll tax holiday -- or an alternative measure that would provide a similar benefit -- as stagnant wages and ongoing high unemployment continue to hurt low and middle-income families. Bigger paychecks mean more spending overall by Americans, some economists say, and that helps both the economy and families make ends meet.

The end of the payroll tax cut brings Americans that much closer to the edge of the so-called fiscal cliff -- a popular phrase used to describe the economic situation facing the nation as a host of other tax breaks are also set to expire at the end of 2012. There are also a number of automatic spending cuts that will go into place starting Jan. 1, 2013.

Like all tax breaks, the money has to come from somewhere. In the case of the payroll tax cut, it has come from Social Security. To make up for the decrease in tax revenue flowing into Social Security's trust fund this year, the government has borrowed from the general fund instead, Bloomberg reported.

That is one reason that neither neither Republicans nor Democrats have taken up the fight to extend the payroll tax cut. The tax cuts have also cost the government at least $120 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. Now, that is money that Congress needs to shore up deficits in the budget overall.

Meanwhile, this past summer's drought, the worst to hit the United States in 50 years, is predicted to raise food prices significantly next year. As the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected, prices on everything from bread to chicken and milk are predicted to rise above the cost of inflation.

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14 Facts Obama Doesn't Want You To Know

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Despite Obama's promises to crack down on Wall Street, federal prosecutions of financial fraud hit a 20-year low last year, according to a November study from a watchdog group.
The number of these types of prosecutions has been falling every year since 1999 -- in other words, there were more prosecutions during every year of George W. Bush's presidency than during every year of Obama's.

The rich took home a greater share of America's income pie from 2009 to 2010 than they did between 2002 and 2007, according to an April analysis from Emmanuel Saez, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. That means the gap between the rich and the poor was more pronounced under Obama's presidency than under George W. Bush's.

Some of America's most profitable companies used a variety of loopholes to pay less than zero in taxes between 2008 and 2010, according to a November 2011 report by the Citizens for Tax Justice. But the Obama administration wants to make it even easier for corporations to have a smaller tax bill; Obama proposed a tax overhaul that would cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent.

Once the health care law takes effect, insurance companies will be footing the bill for millions of previously uninsured Americans and for those who were denied coverage for pre-existing conditions. And health insurance companies will likely pass on to consumers the cost of insuring the new patients.
After Massachusetts enacted a similar health care plan in 2006, premiums for an individual plan in the state rose 18 percent over three years.

In 2009, Obama announced the Home Affordable Mortgage Program, promising to help 3 to 4 million borrowers, but as of January -- more than three years into the program -- HAMP had only reached 1 million borrowers. In an aim to give the program legs, administration officials changed the rules in January to make more borrowers eligible. Still, the fixes were likely too little too late, experts said at the time.

The Obama Administration touted the $25 billion mortgage deal it reached with 49 states and the big banks to settle allegations that banks mishandled mortgages. As part of the settlement, banks said they would offer at least $10 billion in loan forgiveness to homeowners. But months after the deal was inked, banks have been slow to hand out the money.

The Democratic National Convention will feature employees of firms run by Bain Capital -- the private equity firm where Mitt Romney was formerly CEO -- likely in an aim to raise questions about Romney's tenure at the now-controversial company. But Democratic candidates and committees had actually netted double the amount of campaign cash from Bain workers as of May than their Republican counterparts since 2008, according to the Boston Globe.
Now, Republicans are beating their Democratic colleagues in Bain cash, with 58 percent of donations from Bain employees going to Republican candidates and parties, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this slide misstated that Democrats were receiving more donations from Bain employees than Republicans. That was the case in May. As of September Republicans are receiving more donations from Bain employees.

The announcement last month that the Justice Department wouldn't be prosecuting Goldman Sachs over allegations surrounding the financial crisis was a reminder for many that the Obama Administration has largely let banks off the hook for their role in the meltdown. And regulators and officials may be running out of time; the statute of limitations for crimes related to the financial crisis is fast approaching, according to The New York Times.

Many current and former members of the Obama Administration have ties to Wall Street. The list includes the president's current and former chiefs of staff -- Jacob Lew and Bill Daley, respectively -- as well as his former budget director, Peter Orszag, and others.

At the end of 2011, five big banks, including Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, held 56 percent of the U.S. economy, according to Bloomberg, compared to 43 percent five years earlier. That's right, the too-big-to-fail banks have actually gotten bigger.

Welcome to the U.S. of Low-Wage America. Most of the jobs lost during the recession paid middle wages, while most of those gained during the recovery were low-wage jobs, according to a recent study from the National Employment Law Project.

Median household income fell 6.7 percent between June 2009, when the recession technically ended, and June 2011, according to a Census Bureau study cited by The New York Times. That's more than the 3.2 percent incomes fell during the recession, between 2007 and 2009.

Last December, congressional Democrats managed to save the payroll tax cut for one more year, giving 122 million workers a few extra bucks each paycheck, but now that boost may quietly disappear, according to the Wall Street Journal. That's because the White House won't be pushing for another payroll tax cut extension this year.

Of the top 10 companies with employees donating money to Obama's campaign, three are big banks: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Some of Obama's other major contributors include employees from big companies such as Microsoft and Google.